Conference Carolinas Places Seven on Baseball All-America Teams
CARY, N.C. - The 2023 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division II and Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-America Teams have been announced and Conference Carolinas had seven student-athletes honored.
Erskine had a league-best three honorees while North Greenville had two student-athletes recognized. Barton and Belmont Abbey each had one selection.
Pat Monteith of North Greenville earned ABCA/Rawlings second team outfield honors while his teammate David Lewis earned third team utility accolades. Monteith, a first team All-Conference, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection, has helped lead the Crusaders to the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championship. A junior from Charleston, South Carolina, Monteith is hitting a team-best .377 with a league-leading 88 runs scored and 51 RBIs with 19 home runs and 12 doubles this season. He is also 17-for-22 stealing bases. A sophomore from Blue Ridge, South Carolina, Lewis is hitting .372 this season with 61 RBIs and 51 runs scored with 15 doubles and 18 home runs this season. He was also a first team All-Conference, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection.
Erskine had three ABCA/Rawlings third-team honorees in infielder Dale Francis, Jr., designated hitter Christian Rivera and relief pitcher Johnny Hummel. A sophomore first baseman from Fort Pierce, Florida, Francis, Jr. hit a league-best .442 this season with a 1.306 on-base plus slugging percentage. He scored 47 runs and drove in 51 with 14 home runs and 10 doubles. He was named Conference Carolinas Player of the Year and earned first team All-Conference, D2CCA, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region honors. Rivera, a junior from Winter Haven, Florida, hit .348 in 2023 and ranked second on the team with 55 runs and 51 RBIs with 16 home runs and 12 doubles. He was also a first team All-Conference, D2CCA, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection. Hummel, another first team All-Conference, D2CCA, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection, led the league with seven saves. A redshirt senior right-handed pitcher from Matthews, North Carolina, Hummel was 3-2 this season with a 1.35 ERA in 33.1 innings pitched with 62 strikeouts and held opponents to a .123 average in 2023.
Barton’s Tanner Halvorson earned D2CCA third team utility (non-pitcher) honors. The 2023 Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year, Halvorson finished the season 11-2 in 14 starts with 10 complete-games and a 1.71 ERA in 95 innings pitched. The first team All-Conference, D2CCA, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection struck out 79 batters and allowed a .220 average this season. He led the league in ERA, opponent batting average, innings pitched and runs allowed while he was second in wins and third in strikeouts. He also hit .339 in 50 games this season with a team-best 55 runs scored and 36 RBIs with 20 doubles.
Belmont Abbey was represented by catcher Garrett Browder who was a D2CCA honorable mention selection. A junior from Wilson, North Carolina, Browder finished the season second in the league with 78 hits and third in average (.386) and RBIs (63). He had 14 doubles and 11 home runs and caught seven base runners in 2023.
The D2CCA release is available here while the ABCA/Rawlings release is available
here.